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Citizens who follow the news — which is usually bad, and hence, news — must be thinking that feds are party animals, whether they are in Las Vegas or Colombia. But Uncle Sam has more than his share of good people, too, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

What the guilty parties at GSA and the Secret service did was stupid,juvenile,and incredibly immature.Let the guilty parties be fired for cause.I read the Wash Post story on the female Secret Service manager in Miami who supposedly took decisive action against the offending agents.I'd suggest all posters here read that story.IMHO,that story is a PR effort by the SS to downplay culpability.If the Miami manager is as good as this story says,why didn't she exclude these offending agents from the Colombia trip? As for that guy Neely at GSA,he's a total dufus.He needs to be indicted fot misappropriation of government monies,convicted,and go to jail.

why do we need four almost concurrent Congressional hearings? hearings were conducted without any knowledge of the other hearings issues, discussions or outcomes. one can easily argue four redundant hearings falls under waste and abuse as well. Congress has an oversight role, but they do not have a direct supervision role as they seem to think.

A few thoughts to ponder. I bet even with a space shuttle on its back. Is far more expensive per minute in the sky for a 747, for Air Force One. Why the several thousands in my tax money was spent, so the shuttle could endanger the country and maybe fall on the White House, National Mall or heaven forbid ditch in the river due to a major mechanical problem when by rights it should have been wheels stopped. GSA sets the USA travel rates. I suggest all rates are reverted to 1984. If you were not around then, you got $23 for the room and $17 for food and if you elected to stay in the Point Hilton instead of Motel 6, you ate out of your pocket. Nevada has more free food and huge food discounts than any other city in the USA, but gets one of the highest MIE rates. Why GSA, why. The much anticipated Roth TSP is just that a Roth TSP, NOT a Roth IRA. All earnings on that money is subject to future income tax. Why this information was buried at the end of the 7th long article I read on Roth TSP, I have no idea. I sure know even if I was not in my last year of service I would not drink that coolaid. I would just do my 5% for matching funds and dump the rest of my money in a REAL Roth IRA. Of course to believe in a Roth IRA is to believe congress will not change the tax code to make a Roth subject to tax in the future. The precedence established long ago with Social Security, taxed on both ends. One good congress person has a bill in lobby to cut congress pay by 5%. Anyone want 4:1 if this gets to a vote, it includes cuts to both current federal salary and retirement annuities. Portugal has imposed austerity cuts, as you might know. Problem is, if the USA was to make this very real attempt (based on level of each countries GDP) to cut the $15 Trillion Debt. It would require taking both Social Security and Defense, to ZERO. Anyone want 6:1 neither SS or Defense are taking a hit, while feds get beat with rubber hoses.

Deployed,Aren't you retiring? So now you want to stick it to others with your per diem comments. To get people to travel, you must pay per diem. And why should travelers have to look for free food? Where do you get the idea that Roth earnings from TSP are subject to future tax, out of your imagination?
And stop speculating on what congress will do. You are clueless. The rest of your comments are worthless

I suggest you do as Bud recommends above, and become informed, as he noted this is a great story that I had read before reading Mikes blog yesterday. I think it was Nancy who does a weekly retirement spot with Mike and writes mostly for another federal site, that put at the bottom of her Roth TSP story that TSP Roths are NOT IRA Roths and all future earnings are taxed. As for my per diem comments. I always banked money when I traveled and I traveled on open travel orders across the western USA for 14 years of my career, actually for about 7 years the orders stated worldwide as required. It is a crime that GSA sets the rates. It is worse that crew I worked with would drive 3 plus man hours to El Paso TX for $4 more a night for food instead of shutting down where the work was in Las Cruses NM. Or as one guy would do, always stop in Winnimucca NV instead of Reno, because the casino gave out free prime rib for dinner, with two adult beverages and breakfast to order when staying at the place. That guy was so cheap he would not leave a tip at dinner. I stayed in no name places across from the federal center in Denver forever. That is until I was ordered to start traveling with a smoke jumper during the off season and he would only stay in the Hilton, because he could, not because he would on vacation to Denver. So besides the hellish drive to the federal center in the mornings because he also would not hit the road at 7AM we had around $100 per night in added hotel costs from when I was the reasonable and prudent traveler, and that was 15 years ago. So I stand by my recommendation and it shall apply to congress, $40 a night for lodging and $20 for food, maybe bump the hotel up to $50 in DC, LA and NYC. The food you know is tax free so it is really $25 or so in someones pocket.

"The most important thing to know is that the Roth TSP is not a Roth IRA. If you decide to allocate some of your future contributions to the Roth TSP, you will be paying income tax on those contributions first. You won’t pay tax on the earnings as long as you wait to make a withdrawal until you are at least 59 ½ (or disabled or deceased) and your withdrawal is made at least five years after the beginning of the year in which you made your first Roth contribution." Tammy FLanagan Sorry in my 05:30 altered state this morning I call her Nancy. Assuming congress doese not kill the social security supplment, and people retire at MRA, they WILL be taxed on Roth TSP earning in the future.

why would someone do a TSP Roth? It's just as easy to open an account at a broker and do an allotment, especially now that we can have like 14 of them. In the old days it was only 2. I really don't get the TSP Roth, and will just keep my brokerage Roth and hope some future Congress doesn't tax the gains.

Obviously, you feel better with a Roth IRA and have it in a brokerage account. That is okay for you. For others it is not okay. I wish you luck with your account and hope you wish me luck with my account. No competition, just comfort level.

I suggest you learn before you write. The purpose of Roth is to not get a reduction in pay for tax purposes and future earnings are tax free. And yes, our Roth TSP's are different from Roth IRA's. What you are describing is a regular TSP.------As far as your ability to bank some or all of your perdiem, good for you. And I am sure you can cite those who take advantage of the system. However, I doubt that most travellers can do what you do (can't prove or disprove that). It would be very difficult to get a room at your rates unless it is called the roach motel. And no one should be expected to have healthy meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner for $20/day. You cannot expect them to look for free food. If they do so, good for them. Again, you are retiring and do not give a hoot about the employees.

I am going way off point for an issue that you could get stuck with. You bought certain dollar coins from the mint. You stated that you used ebay to find their values. You gave a high value which may or may not be valid. I do not follow this type of coin.----I checked ebay, out of curiousity. it gave a certain value to a coin that the seller said was a nice coin. There is no such grade as nice. In fact, if the coin was not an uncirculated coin with a grade higher than MS 60, the buyer would be ripped off. I suggest that if you really want to know the value of the coin, get a good issue of Coin World. otherwise you could be ripped off too. for those who object to this digression, consumer safety is more important than the other nonsense.

I don't know, I'm still the walking dead from some person getting named supervisor instead of me. I was hired for a supervisor job, but the boss promoted a friend - someone he/she even had do evaluations for him/her when they were too low of a grade and not a supervisor. They should not have done their coworkers evaluations - that is delegating your supervisory authority which is not supposed to happen. So I guess he had to promote that person and be afraid of what that person knew about him/her after doing those types of things with that person. While I'm waiting for my job to actually materialize (they would both have to retire and new management come in and the new management would have to miraculously trust me after I've been libelled and slandered so badly which will probably never happen), I will probably make two million dollars on the payroll...just waiting for the job I was hired for to finally arrive, but maybe it never will. Life in the federal government can be very wasteful - of your life and of ferderal dollars.

We have a deficit of jobs for people in America. The housing crisis is still with us. People trying to improve their lot in life by educating themselves wind up deeper in debt for decades. We are still fighting one war and dealing with the negative affect of the BUSH tax cuts, so named because they were initiated, promoted, and (still) defended by GW Bush and all of those Republicans who are responsible for the fiscal deficit of the nation. And what is Congress doing? They are ignoring the large difficult problems in favor of investigating a measly $800,000 GSA folly. How much more is that going to cost us, not to mention putting more people out of work? Hello? Is anybody home?

The centerpiece of the financial meltdown was the collapse in the housing market. Both political parties are equally responsible by promoting policies to get folks in homes who could not afford them. If the Bush tax cuts were so bad then why is there a scramble to ensure they don't expire at the end of the year? What portion of the cuts are wasteful and what do you propose the money be used for? More spending in companies like Solyndra? Perhaps you'd like to undo the Bush tax cuts so we can give that money to GSA? I know, lets allow the Bush tax cuts to expire and use the money for another $787 billion stimulus. Yeah, that's what we should do. Good Grief!!!!!

Looks like getting out of the Bush depression is much more difficult than anyone anticipated. It is much more difficult when your allies in the Republican party want to continue his policies by not raising taxes on the wealthy who got more out of Bush than the rest of us on a per capita basis. And the money could have been used to reduce the deficit, something your friends of the radical right want, but want to stick it to the middle class and the poor. Good grief is right.

You truly need to remove your head from the sand. Do you really think the Dems will use the tax revenue from the soon to expire Bush tax cuts to reduce the deficit? Please!!!! The Dems will spend the money on more wasteful green energy projects. I hope the anti-fossil fuel president we currently have lets the evil Bush tax cuts expire. Then you and your liberal friends will get to expreience that depression you keep talking about.

Read your nonsense. And why would they not use the money to reduce the deficit. Or perhaps the money will be used to stimulate the economy instead of lining the pockets of the wealthy or to start another war to line the pockets of the wealthy (see Cheney's ex corporation as an example) Getting the country out of the Bush depression would also increase government revenue which could be used to reduce the deficit instead of giving tax cuts to the wealthy ala Bush and the Republicans.

What makes you think the gov't can do a better job spending money than the people who actually earned it? Was that tax payer $ the GSA spent? $787 billion wasted on a stimulus plan that by the presidents own standards was a failure. Billions more wasted on green energy that nobody but you and your liberal friends want. You have a problem with the GOP allowing ALL Americans to keep more of THEIR money, but have nothing to say about the billions wasted on lining the pockets of now bankrupt companies like Solyndra. I know I know, it's all Bush's fault.

Oh well, I guess you do not mind the unfortunate not getting medical care or having food to eat for them and their kids. Guess you would rather build jails and house these people at $50,000 per person instead of educating them. Guess you don't mind getting emphazema due to air pollution (EPA). Don't forget the magic elixirs (FDA). Maybe you would not mind others working in firetraps 70 hours per week starting at age 6.(OSHA, Dept of Labor etc) Soyndra hasn't been proven corrupt under law but how many private enterprise people have been jailed due to fraudulent actions? What this means is that private enterprise needs regulation not elimination. You also should have objected to Cheney's old employer getting so many contracts. Who knows what Cheney got from them. Oh, but he is on your side so that does not count.